OASIS Joins with ITU-T to Convene International Workshop to Advance Standards for Public Warning Systems.

Experts to Demonstrate Interoperability of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) OASIS Standard for Emergency Response Policy Makers

BOSTON, Mass. & Geneva -- The OASIS standards consortium will join with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to advance universal best practices for applying emergency response standards at the "Joint ITU-T / OASIS Workshop and Demonstration of Advances in ICT Standards for Public Warning," to be held 19-20 October 2006 in Geneva. Invited policy makers, government agencies, system suppliers, and key experts from around the world will gather at the event, which will feature an interoperability demonstration of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), a widely implemented OASIS Standard that provides all-media, all-hazards public warning for many societies worldwide.

"In the wake of the Tsunami disaster of 2004 and multiple natural catastrophes in 2005, standards development organizations have stepped up work on public warning in concert with organizations dealing with disaster management, prevention, and relief," noted Houlin Zhao, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU. "This workshop will emphasize the practical application of standardized public warnings, investigate standardization gaps, and prioritize key opportunities for collaboration on further work."

"Demand to learn more about the direct benefits that CAP and related emergency response standards offer is extremely high now, particularly in Europe," noted Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "As more and more CAP implementations have been deployed, the ability for the public and private sectors to exchange interoperable data messages across disparate systems and devices has increased significantly. The potential savings in lives and propertyCoon a local as well as global scaleCois tremendous."

The event will include presentations from representatives of the European Commission Directorate General Information Society and Media, Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA), United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United States Department of Homeland Security, World Health Organization (WHO), and World Weather Watch. Verisign will host a reception for all attendees.

The workshop is endorsed by the Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC), International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and National ICT Australia (NICTA). OASIS Sponsor member, Warning Systems, will demonstrate its CAP-compliant product, along with other exhibitors including Hormann Warning Systems, MyStateUSA, and WorldSpace.

Space at the workshop is limited to enable productive collaboration. Participation is open to ITU Member States, Sector Members and Associates, and to any individual from a country which is a member of ITU who wishes to contribute to the work.

About ITU

ITU is a world-wide organization which brings governments and industry together to coordinate the establishment and operation of global telecommunication networks and services; it is responsible for standardization, coordination and development of international telecommunications including radio communications, as well as the harmonization of national policies. http://www.itu.int/home/index.html

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include AVDL, BCM, CAP, DITA, DocBook, DSML, ebXML CPPA, ebXML Messaging, ebXML Registry, EDXL-DE, EML, OpenDocument, SAML, SPML, UBL, UDDI, WSDM, WS-Reliability, WSRF, WSRP, WS-Security, XACML, XCBF, and XML Catalogs.

http://www.oasis-open.org

Additional information

ITU-T/OASIS Workshop and Demonstration of Advances in ICT Standards for Public Warning

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/ictspw/

OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency